Sunday Funnies: All infrastructure for Dan

Sheldon Liber — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:10:00 EST

Filed under: International Markets, Management, Industry, Rants and Raves, Competitive Strategy, Politics, Sunday Funnies, Headline News, Recession, Financial Crisis

Blogging for AOL has been an interesting experience over the last few years. For me it is one of those unplanned surprising things that pop up on life's journey every so often. For the most part it has been a rewarding experience. I have had to become a lot more thick skinned when receiving harsh and even crude comments from readers.

One of the great things has been the 'pen pals' I have made around the world. People that have taken to my stories and regularly add their insights. The dialogue makes it more informative and the immediacy somehow makes it more personal and real.

Just this morning I received a note from Dan, a frequent participant in the BloggingStocks.com dialogue. He had noticed that one of my colleagues Peter Cohan had picked up my infrastructure theme lately and was not able to find my stories about the subject from earlier in the year.

I think this is one of the themes that Peter and I could write about non-stop and it would not be getting enough attention. It is first and foremost about putting people to work doing things that the nation needs done anyway. If we have to run the printing presses let it be for things that last 80 to 100 years not 2 to 3. The following stories will illuminate the subject as to my views in more detail.

Thanks for writing Dan. I hope you and others will continue to comment and try and wake up our elected officials. I started banging this gong in February. Maybe someone in Washington will do something before next February.

I think that the infrastructure story will continue to be a major theme next year and for many years to come. My stories have discussed roads, bridges, tunnels, highways and the like but future stories will be about water. In using the the picture above contributed by editor and writer Sarah Gilbert, I want to drive home the point that we all have expectations that our simplest needs will be met. That is not going to be so, if we do not plan for the future.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.

Sunday Funnies: All infrastructure for Dan originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How I missed the Minneapolis tragedy

Georges Yared — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:05:00 EST

Last night, as you all have heard by now, a bridge that hovers over the Mississippi River that separates Minneapolis from St. Paul, Minnesota collapsed at the height of rush hour. Thanks to my son's insistence about watching the Minnesota Twins take batting practice before their scheduled game against the Kansas City Royals, we just missed the tragedy.

I live in the greater Minneapolis area and am still in shock. Last night my 15-year old son Joey and I decided to go watch our beloved Twins. The game was to start at 7:10 pm, but Joey , being Joey, begged me to go early so we could watch batting practice. He is an avid baseball fan and player. Why not? Let's get there early, grab a couple of hot dogs and watch the pros smack the ball around. Joey and I crossed the I-35 W bridge at 5:30 -- thirty-five minutes before the collapse.

At the Minneapolis Metrodome, all seemed normal. The bridge collapsed at 6:05 pm as people were filing into the stadium. At 6:50 pm, the Twins announced that the game would go on as scheduled. It was a puzzler because no one in the Dome was aware of any tragedy that lay just eight blocks away. The public address announcer explained what happened and said the Twins would play the game as they did not want to send 25,000 people back into the already heavy-congested traffic. Today's noon game has been postponed as the rescue workers are using the Twins parking lot as a staging area.

Cell phones were working intermittently as the lines were flooded with concerned and curious callers. As my phone finally worked, my wife, two daughters and my other two sons were frantically trying to reach me as they all knew we went over the bridge, but they did not know what time we crossed it. I remember just breaking out in a sweat when I realized the scope and scale of the disaster. My precious son and I were only 35 minutes ahead of a disaster that could have cost us our lives.

I barely remember the game. As word spread throughout the Dome, people were more concerned about their loved ones and friends. The I-35 W bridge normally accommodates 135,000 cars a day; it is one of the major arteries leading to downtown Minneapolis. Not anymore.

So dear readers, take a moment and reflect, maybe give someone you love an extra hug. I know I will . . .

Georges Yared is the CIO of Yared Investment Research.

How I missed the Minneapolis tragedy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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